ACQUIRING THE TASTE

I'll say from the outset, I'm not a Gentle Giant fan. I've always felt that they're complex for the sake of being complex rather than for any actual musical purpose. In other words, I think they were always just trying to show off. However, putting their musical attitude aside for a moment, I do think they released a couple of decent albums. These include this one released in 1971. This is, in my opinion, their best album. That doesn't make it a great or essential one however. Before the music even begins, one gets an immediate impression of the attitude I mentioned above. In the original album notes was a message from the band claiming that they were setting out to "expand the frontiers of contemporary popular music" and that they'd "abandoned all preconceived thoughts of blatant commercialism". Now, I'm not saying that it's wrong to do anything alternative, far from it, but when you welcome your listeners with such a pompous statement of your own musical ability, you're going to alienate people. And of course they did, only finding success in a cult following on the continent. So, what of the actual music on the album? All in all, it's a pretty strong collection of songs. My personal favourite is Pantagruel's Nativity but the rest of the album hold up relatively well. Throughout, the band deliver what is to become their usual mix of genres from all eras of music. This mix will later become their trademark. The difference on this album is that all sounds much darker and harsher than on later releases. It is also done more subtly here than later on. There appears to be, from my perspective at least, more emphasis on making stuff that sounds good rather than trying to complex for the sake of being complex. In conclusion, a strong album from a band I don't normally go for. I would recommend this album above most of Gentle Giant's music.